A promise broken
The Woodland Cemetery to the founders of Des Moines was seen as a promise of security for all time. Located at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Woodland Avenue, Woodland Cemetery is an honored and revered resting place for the founders of our city and heroes of our nation. The cemetery advisory board voted last night to strip the barrier between this revered site and vandals, the homeless, dog walkers. There is simply no more historic place that is seeded so deeply the history of Polk County, aptly named for President James K. Polk. But among those interred at our cemetery is a different Polk. Jefferson Scott Polk (1831-1907) as a lawyer well educated, clear headed, deliberate, optimistic, positive, nervous, sanguine temperament, aggressive and plain of speech. In 1859, J.S. Polk formed a partnership with Judge Casady and M.M. Crocker, making one of the strongest law firms in the district. In 1861, when Mr. Crocker entered the military service, and the firm became ...